Ryan Griffiths (guitarist)

Last updated

Ryan Griffiths
Born (1978-02-14) 14 February 1978 (age 42)
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Genres Alternative rock, garage rock revival, post-grunge, indie rock, neo-psychedelia
Occupation(s)Musician
Instruments Guitars, keyboards, backing vocals
Years active2002–present
Associated acts The Vines

Ryan Griffiths (born 14 February 1978) is an Australian musician. From March 2002 to December 2011 he was a member of garage rock band, The Vines. Craig Nicholls, who founded the group, realised while touring for the promotion of their debut album, Highly Evolved (July 2002), that they needed an additional guitarist. So Nicholls asked his longtime friend and schoolmate Griffiths to join. As a member of The Vines he appeared on four of their studio albums, Winning Days (March 2004), Vision Valley (April 2006), Melodia (July 2008) and Future Primitive (June 2011). During his tenure Griffiths provided guitars (acoustic, rhythm or lead), keyboards, percussion and backing vocals before leaving, along with their drummer, Hamish Rosser, in December 2011.

Contents

Biography

Ryan Griffiths was born on 14 February 1978 and grew up in Sydney. Griffiths and Craig Nicholls (founder of garage rock band, The Vines in 1994) attended the same school. Nicholls later remembered attending his first concert with Griffiths, "I went with Ryan [to see The Screaming Jets] and I remember we were pretty young and I couldn't really see much because I was small and we were near the back". [1]

By March 2002 Nicholls had asked Griffiths to join The Vines, [2] to tour and promote their debut album, Highly Evolved , which had been recorded by February. [3] Alongside Griffiths and Nicholls, The Vines line-up was Patrick Matthews on bass guitar and Hamish Rosser on drums. Initially Griffiths played acoustic guitar, eventually he provided rhythm guitar, lead guitar, keyboards, percussion and backing vocals. [4] [5] As a member of The Vines he appeared on their studio albums, Winning Days (March 2004), Vision Valley (April 2006), Melodia (July 2008) and Future Primitive (June 2011). [4] When playing on stage, Griffiths prefers his instruments mixed at lower levels. [6]

In 2005, as The Vines prepared for their third album, Vision Valley, Rosser indicated that he had written tracks with Griffiths but "it's likely only Craig Nicholls's work will show up on the new album". [7] Griffiths co-wrote "Gimme Love" with Nicholls and Rosser, [8] which appeared on their fifth studio album, Future Primitive and was issued as its lead single in mid-2011. The track was also used for the feature film, The Inbetweeners Movie (2011). [9] In May 2011, Griffiths reflected on working in The Vines, "we were always a pretty tight unit, you know? We’re all good mates and we play music together really well. There was never any sort of point where we found it difficult to continue making music. It was just something that we all did so naturally together". [10] In December that year The Vines appeared at the Homebake music festival without Griffiths or Rosser. [11] In March 2012 Rosser joined heavy rockers, Wolfmother, [11] while Griffiths contemplated a solo career.

Solo work

According to The Vines official fan club, from 2007, Ryan Griffiths wrote songs intending to release a solo album. [12] Tracks that were written had influences from The Dandy Warhols, Brian Jonestown Massacre and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. [12] As of yet, no solo material has surfaced.

Ryan Griffiths is currently planning a tour through Europe, playing a solo acoustic set at smaller venues and festivals in summer 2014. Concerts in Australia have not been confirmed yet.

Related Research Articles

The Vines (band) Rock band

The Vines are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1994. Their sound has been described as a musical hybrid of 1960s garage rock and 1990s alternative rock. The band has been through several line-up changes, with vocalist/guitarist Craig Nicholls serving as the sole constant throughout the band's history.

<i>Highly Evolved</i> 2002 studio album by The Vines

Highly Evolved is the debut studio album by Australian alternative rock band The Vines. It was released on 14 July 2002 on Capitol Records. Produced by Rob Schnapf, known for his collaboration with Tom Rothrock on Elliott Smith's albums Either/Or, XO, and Figure 8, Highly Evolved was an immensely popular debut, part of a trend towards garage rock revival bands known as much for the relentless hype from the UK music press as for their music; The Vines were frequently compared to Nirvana. The debut single, "Highly Evolved", was chosen as Single of the Week by influential British music magazine NME. The magazine also voted it the 2nd best album of the year in 2002. The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. In October 2010, it was listed in the book 100 Best Australian Albums.

<i>Winning Days</i> 2004 studio album by The Vines

Winning Days is the second studio album by Australian alternative rock band The Vines, and was released on 23 March 2004 It is the follow-up to their debut, Highly Evolved. The enhanced CD has the music video for "Ride". Winning Days was recorded in the summer of 2003 at Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, New York and was assisted by Bill Synans. It was mixed in September 2003 at Cello Studios in Los Angeles and was assisted by Steven Rhodes.

Craig Nicholls Australian musician

Craig Robert Nicholls is an Australian musician, best known as the lead singer, songwriter, and guitarist of the Australian alternative rock band The Vines, of which he is the only mainstay member.

<i>Wanted Man</i> (Paul Kelly album) 1994 studio album by Paul Kelly

Wanted Man is a folk rock album by Paul Kelly and was originally released in July 1994. It was issued on Mushroom Records in Australia and was Kelly's first solo studio album after disbanding his previous group, The Messengers. Tracks 1–10 were recorded at three Los Angeles studios while tracks 11–13 were recorded in Melbourne. It was produced by Kelly, Randy Jacobs and David Bridie. The cover art for Wanted Man is a colophon rendering of Australia's legendary outlaw Ned Kelly as a guitarist and was painted by David Band.

Wolfmother Australian hard rock band

Wolfmother is an Australian hard rock band from Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 2004, the group is centred around vocalist and guitarist Andrew Stockdale, who is the only constant member of the lineup. The band has been through many personnel changes since their formation, with the current incarnation including drummer Hamish Rosser and bassist Brad Heald, both of whom are former members of The Vines. The original – and most commercially successful – lineup included bassist and keyboardist Chris Ross and drummer Myles Heskett. Ross and Heskett left Wolfmother after four years in 2008.

Machine Translations

Machine Translations is the performing name of Greg James Walker, an Australian singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist; who is also a producer as J Walker. Walker started out recording all instruments himself in a home studio and later branched out to include a band.

Hamish Rosser

Hamish Rosser is an Australian rock musician. He is best known for his time in The Vines and his current position in Wolfmother.

<i>Vision Valley</i> 2006 studio album by The Vines

Vision Valley is the third studio album by Australian rock band The Vines. It was released on 1 April 2006 through EMI Records. It is the band's first album without bass guitarist Patrick Matthews who left the band in 2004.

Andrew Stockdale Australian musician

Andrew James Stockdale is an Australian rock musician, singer and songwriter best known as the lead vocalist, lead guitarist and only continuous member of the rock band Wolfmother, which formed in 2000. In 2007, he won "Songwriter of the Year" at the APRA Awards along with his bandmates. Aside from his work with Wolfmother, Stockdale was featured on the 2010 single "By the Sword" by Slash, and released a solo album in 2013, Keep Moving.

Chris Ross

Christopher James "Chris" Ross is an Australian musician. He was the founding bass guitarist and keyboardist of hard rock band, Wolfmother, from 2000 to August 2008. His trademark stage antic is playing the keyboard at a slant or vertically. At the APRA Awards of 2007 Ross and bandmates, Myles Heskett and Andrew Stockdale, won the Songwriters of the Year category. After leaving Wolfmother with Heskett, the pair worked as Doom Buggy, then they formed Palace of Fire in 2009. In 2011 Ross and Heskett formed Good Heavens with Sarah Kelly (ex-theredsunband). Ross was formerly a digital designer and has three children.

Brad Heald is an Australian musician. Heald was the bass guitarist in the Australian garage rock band The Vines and lead guitarist of Sydney band Red Riders; and is currently the bass player of Angus Stone's project, Dope Lemon. He also has played with Australian indie-punk bands Dune Rats and Skegss.

Get Free (The Vines song) 2002 single by The Vines

"Get Free" is a song by the Australian garage rock band The Vines from their debut album Highly Evolved. The song was released in mid 2002, and remains the Vines' highest charting single.

Outtathaway!

"Outtathaway" is the third single by Australian alternative rock band The Vines from their debut album Highly Evolved. It was released in Australia as a radio edit single via Engine Room Music/EMI on 18 November 2002, which peaked at No. 38 on the ARIA Singles Chart. It is the Vines' highest charting single and was written by the group's lead singer and guitarist, Craig Nicholls. The song was used in the feature film, Bruce Almighty, but was not included on the official movie soundtrack album.

<i>Melodia</i> (album) 2008 studio album by The Vines

Melodia is the fourth studio album by Australian alternative rock band The Vines. The album was produced by Rob Schnapf, and subsequently released by Ivy League Records in Australia on 12 July 2008, and through retailer Insound, in the United States on 22 July 2008. The album peaked at number 12 on the Australian ARIA Charts.

<i>The Best of The Vines</i> 2008 greatest hits album by The Vines

The Best of The Vines is a compilation album by The Vines and contains a selection of singles and album tracks from their first three albums released under Capitol Records. The band did not have a say in the release having been dropped by Capitol Records in 2007, however they picked the songs.

Homesick (The Vines song)

"Homesick" is the fourth and final single from The Vines' debut album Highly Evolved. The single, which was only released in Australia, peaked in the ARIA Singles Chart top 50. Four different versions of the single were released, with each single featuring a portrait of a band member and different B-sides.

<i>Future Primitive</i> (The Vines album) 2011 studio album by The Vines

Future Primitive is the fifth studio album by Australian alternative rock band The Vines. It was released on 3 June 2011.

<i>Wicked Nature</i> 2014 studio album by The Vines

Wicked Nature is the sixth studio album by Australian alternative rock band The Vines. It was released on 2 September 2014. The double album is the band's first release under their own label Wicked Nature Music. The release marks a few milestones for The Vines, with frontman Craig Nicholls taking on the role of producer for the first time, as well as introducing a completely new rhythm section with drummer Lachlan West and bassist Tim John. Much of the funding for the album came from music funding website PledgeMusic.

References

  1. ↑ Kennedy, Jade (6 October 2011). "Back to the Music". Townsville Bulletin . Queensland Newspapers (News Corporation). Retrieved 18 September 2012.
  2. ↑ Clarke, Betty (12 March 2002). "The Vines, Monarch, London". The Guardian . Guardian Media Group . Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  3. ↑ "The Vines Biography". J Play.
  4. 1 2 "Ryan Griffiths > Credits". Allmusic . Rovi Corporation . Retrieved 18 September 2012.
  5. ↑ Sheffield, Rob (26 August 2002). "The Vines". Rolling Stone . Jann Wenner. Archived from the original on 9 June 2008. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
  6. ↑ Jennings, Steve (1 June 2004). "The Vines/Jet/The Living End". Mix. New Bay Media. Archived from the original on 16 May 2014. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  7. ↑ Arndt, Jaclyn (17 May 2005). "The Vines Plan to Record Third Album". Soul Shine Magazine . Lindsay Whitfield, Paul Whitfield. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  8. ↑ "'Gimme Love' at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 18 September 2012.
  9. ↑ Lee, Ann (4 August 2011). "The Inbetweeners Movie Soundtrack to Feature Ten Songs from Mike Skinner". Metro . Associated Newspapers (Daily Mail and General Trust). Retrieved 18 September 2012.
  10. ↑ Williams, Rohan (25 May 2011). "The Vines Interview". Junior. Eyeball Media. Archived from the original on 30 December 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  11. 1 2 Smith, Sarah (16 March 2012). "Vines Drummer Joins Wolfmother; Claims The Vines Have 'Broken Up'". FasterLouder. Sound Alliance. Archived from the original on 19 April 2012. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
  12. 1 2 "The Band – Ryan Griffiths". Dreamin the Insane (DTI) – The Vines Official Fun Club. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.